Maamawi ezhichigeyang – wiisiniyang

In keeping with the current theme of bossing kids around, here are some phrases for use at meal times.

You may notice a few things in these words. For one thing, most of the verbs here are in command form, just like in the previous two lists. These are all in second person singular form, which means the commands are issued to one person other than the speaker.

You will also see frequent use of ambe. Ambe is an invitation, like saying “Come on” before an action. A phrase beginning with ambe usually has a verb ending with –daa, which adds a sense of “let’s do this thing together.”

So in #3, the basic verb is wiisini, s/he is eating. Wiisinidaa means “let’s eat” and ambe adds the invitation.

Daga basically means “please.” Indaga means the same thing, but this form is heard from Red Lake speakers. Dagash is also sometimes used; I was told this is a slightly less formal version of daga.

You will also see a few locative endings, such as –ing at the end of adoopowining. Adoopowin means table, and the –ing tells the listener you mean on, to, or at the table. When added to a different sort of noun, such as zaaga’iganing, the –ing may also mean in, as in in the lake. When putting a locative onto a word ending in /k/, then –ong may be used (as in #12). There are some rules underlying when to use –ing, -ong, or even other slightly different forms.

One way to explore how words are changed according to use is to try to find the basic word form and then look it up in The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary. Some entries will include more than one form of each word, so you can see how flexible and creative you can be by adding smaller parts of meaning, called morphemes, to words you already know.

Another thing to notice is how many things end with –igan. That morpheme turns a verb into a noun. Ojibwemowin is mostly verbs; it’s an action-oriented language. Nouns are made from verbs. Badaka’an is a verb meaning "stick it with something pointy." Adding –igan, means “a thing that you stick things with” or, more simply, a fork.

My favorite example is the word for television, mazinaatesijigan. The morphemes are mazin-, which means an image, and usually a stylized or fancy image. The –aate indicates that something is in the light, either revealed through light and shadow, or perhaps made out of light and shadow. Mazinaate means “it is projected,” like a movie in a theater. So a television is “a thing where images appear through light and shadow.”

One reason mazinaatesijigan is my favorite example is because it is a new word, a new technology. In English, new words—especially new technology terms—are usually made of nouns that are turned into verbs. So words like shuttle, phone, fax, and email are things that also work as actions.

But even if you can live without exploring all the underlying morphological rules, I hope that you find these phrases useful with your family.